Xandu (Earth-11584)
History "Dormammu offers freely what The Ancient One hoards for herself: A life without death, without end, without fear of mortality. How many of your patients...Doctor...would gladly trade anything for that?" '''Xandu '''was a former member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts and a disciple of the Dread Lord Dormammu. His past, and indeed his real name is unknown to most, as the Masters only knew him by his chosen pseudonym. He was originally from Denmark, where he grew up and married a woman by the name of Adria. The two of them lived a happy life until Adria was struck by ovarian cancer, and given only six-eight months to live. Xandu searched endlessly for a way to save his beloved wife's life, but all of western medicine seemed to fail him. Having nothing else to lose, they traveled to Tibet to seek out The Ancient One at Kamer-Taj. Xandu began to learn the ways of the Mystic Arts, keeping his wife and his colleagues in the dark of his true motivations (though The Ancient One was aware of them). Xandu proved to be one of the most gifted students that the Ancient One had ever taught, even surpassing her prized pupil Karl Mordo. Unfortunately, Adria's condition took a turn for the worse and she died of her disease. Distraught, Xandu delved even deeper into the Mystic Arts, learning some dark arcane knowledge from the Book of Cagliostro, searching for any way to revive his wife. In time, Xandu approached The Ancient One with a request: to help him bring back his wife from the dead. The Ancient One denied his request, saying that such knowledge of necromancy was forbidden, and that it was forbidden for a reason. This angered Xandu, who turned away from The Ancient One and used his personal popularity among many of the other students to break away and form a group of zealots that would serve him. After further discoveries outside of Kamer-Taj, Xandu and his disciples broke into the library their and stole pages from the Book of Cagliostro, as well as a piece of a mystical artifact known as the Wand of Watoomb, which would amplify cast spells exponentially. Though Xandu fought with the Ancient One and lost some of his followers, he managed to escape with the piece in tact. Now armed with the knowledge to complete his plan, he made contact with the Dread Lord Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension. He offered him the opportunity to seize the Earth for his own if he would resurrect his wife, something Dormammu agreed to. Xandu and his followers were then endowed with powers from the Dark Dimension, greatly increasing their sorcery abilities and allowing Xandu in particular to fold space and matter outside the Mirror Dimension. The zealots then set out to collect the remaining three pieces of the Wand of Watoomb, first attacking the Sanctum in London (located inside an old lighthouse) and then the Sanctum in New York. It was in New York that Xandu encountered Karl Mordo and Doctor Strange, incapacitating the former and then fighting the latter. Strange managed to stalemate Xandu and his disciples (with significant help from the Cloak of Levitation), and Xandu was temporarily suspended in a binding cage. While there he explained the nature of Dormammu as he saw it, and divulged The Ancient One's darkest secrets, that she too drew power from the Dark Dimension. All of this was a ruse, though, as it allowed one of Xandu's zealots to sneak up behind Strange and stab him with a folded space knife. Strange left the Sanctum Sanctorum, while Xandu was eventually freed, capturing the third piece of the Wand. Xandu and his zealots returned to the Sanctum, attacking Strange and Mordo as a way to lure The Ancient One out of Kamer-Taj. This worked, and in the Mirror Dimension three zealots and Xandu fought with the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. She held her own, until a distraction inadvertently provided by Mordo caused Xandu to stab her through the heart with a folded space knife, kicking her out of a portal as he did so. With The Ancient One's death, Xandu and his group wasted little time in attacking the Hong Kong Sanctum, despite it being protected by Wong and several other sorcerers. After killing the defenders, Xandu took the last piece of the Wand and cast the spell from the Book of Cagliostro that opened a portal to the Dark Dimension, allowing Dormammu to begin merging the two realms. However, Doctor Strange used the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone it contained to halt the merger and revive Wong and the rest of the sorcerers. Xandu then fought with Mordo, Wong, and the other sorcerers as Strange traveled into the Dark Dimension and trapped Dormammu in a time loop, only breaking it when he agreed to Strange's terms. As a result, Xandu and his sorcerers were stripped away from the Earth, taken over by Dormammu and transformed into Faceless Ones. Xandu complained to Dormammu about keeping his word, and the Dread Lord complied, summoning Adria's reanimated corpse and transforming her into a mindless Faceless One for all eternity as well, taking the whole group to the Dark Dimension and ending his assault on Earth, as well as the assault of Xandu. Powers & Abilities * Mystical Powers: Xandu was said to be one of the most gifted students in Kamer-Taj, able to master spells after only a single lesson. His arcane knowledge rivals that of even the Ancient One, as even she seemed amazed at his ability to fold space and matter outside of the Mirror Dimension, something that should be physically impossible. * Dark Dimension Augmentation: Using stolen pages from the Book of Cagliostro, Xandu was able to contact Dormammu and gain further augmentation of his powers by the Dread Lord, who fed him energy from the Dark Dimension. This augmentation was greater than that of the one used by The Ancient One, as Xandu gave himself freely to Dormammu. * Master Martial Artist: Like most members of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, Xandu was well skilled at several forms of martial arts. Weaknesses Xandu was obsessed with bringing his dead wife back from the dead. It was this desire that drove him to Kamer-Taj in the first place, and ultimately what led him to make his bargain with Dormammu. As such, this single-minded focus could be exploited by the right opponent. Also his faith in Dormammu was misplaced, as the Dread Lord readily used him and his disciples as a bargaining chip in his battle with Doctor Strange. Film Details Xandu appears within the following films within the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is played by actor Mads Mikkelsen. * Doctor Strange (2016) Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Bad Characters